For PvP; Solo should be the exception not the rule, mechanics should have options that focus on small-gang (duo+) combat with tools to limit escalations by either party (ex: cyno displacers/jammers). Done right that would allow the actually good players, as opposed to just rich, to solo against similar or slightly greater numbers.Rest should be full on LagVille with no holds barred blobbing et al.

PS: Solo was mortally wounded when alts (logi/eWar) became the norm and received its coup de grace when T3s alts matured and nigh-impossible to probe link platforms flooded space .. just sayin'

Posted - 2011.12.31 08:54:00 -
[32] - Quote
I enjoyed being in a couple of wormhole corps but play solo because it suits a casual player and it's commitment free. So null/low sec corps for casual players that only want to commit a few hours a week would be good.

- Eve education service. It's hard to learn playing solo. I suspect a lot of solo high sec players wouldn't even know what a safe spot is. Eve uni seems more of a corp with an education theme. Applications from care bears tend to get rejected. Maybe ccp could sponsor some players to run a corp that solo players could join for field trips like frigate roams, wormhole exploration, FW day etc. Could be casual to suit solo players and might encourage some to join corps or give them the skills to venture out of high sec.

It's difficult sometimes though... as a parent I'm very much in the habit of emphasizing the importance of "playing well with others".

When you get right down to it, I have no real issue with the development of more content that would work to entertain solo players.... as long as they don't complain when it becomes apparent that you can achieve a great deal more by working with others. I like the fact that it reflects real life in this particular area, and that you can't simply do everything yourself as you can in many games.Revenge should not stop at the ship!

Posted - 2011.12.31 09:50:00 -
[35] - Quote
Asking for any "love" for solo players from CCP is like asking for world peace.

But that's what makes things interesting for solo players.

In fact, bucking the game system is the goal of many a griefer and metagamer, and so to play solo in this game is probably the most benign way to stick your thumb in the eye of this game. The former is always saying "this is a sandbox" but the goal never changes: hit the other kids over the head with the pale and shovel and then point and laugh, until "mommy" (CCP) ends up having to take the pale and shovel away (nerfs, buffs, etc).

But the solo player is truly trying to buck this game system and laugh at all of those people singing "this is an MMO".

Yes, it's an MMO. But to play with others just because it's an MMO is the same logic that has everybody stuck in the same traffic in the same place almost every day at the same time. Backroads? Side streets? Nope. It's "rush hour" and you are supposed to be stuck in traffic.

Crap logic. Yeah it's an MMO and I like that too, but play solo, because server-driver NPCs and AI are only a little bit dumber than most of the other players - but I don't try to interact with NPCs except to blow them up or run away from them. With other players, it's the same thing, only a little more challenging.

"A Little" is key here. My drones have more creativity than an average gate camper.

As for giving some lovin' to solo players, if CCP had been visited by three ghosts this Christmas and are inclined to change their ways, they could start by creating a ship that is intended for the most popular form of solo play: an exploration ship. Gankers have ships, miners have ships, haulers have ships. Even salvagers got ships. But explorers? Nothing. We still have to outfit a BC or at best a covops or SB for exploration.

Funny thing is, EVERYBODY likes exploration. There are miners who will never gank. There are gankers who will never mine. There are mission runners who never PVP, and PVP'ers who will never (again) run missions. But across the board, everybody will throw on a probe launcher and roll the dice and see what space has to offer. The PVP crowd has their slow days, and find themselves alone - they go exploring. Same for mission runners and those who belong to mining/industrial corps.

So you would think that CCP would figure that an exploration ship would be a good idea.

In the meantime, Nova Fox has pitched some very good ideas for factions Exploration Ships, the faction being Sisters of Eve. I recommend that everybody find them and support those concepts at every chance in the hope that we get exploration ships someday.

Add another high for probe launcher and remove all belts from low/null & replace them with grav sites and there you go.

I'm not really a miner, but provided how every T2 miner ship is a giant bullseye waiting to be blown to bits or else must spoil its ability to mine for a marginal increase in tank, probably miners are the soloers needing more love.

If the solo way of life is in EVE what a fat ugly chemistry set owner has for a love-life, then corporate/alliance life is marriage: full of stable commitments, maybe some schedules to keep and people who may have the same general direction as you, but not always. Some people find someone special, fall in love, get married and all is well. Some don't, and ostracizing them for that is kinda wrong.

What would be nice to have is something in-between, your one-night stand at a club, your summer fling, call it what you will. Tools/situations what forge temporary relations between players that who knows? maybe they will evolve into more permanent engagements later, but for now it's just a fun night.

Faction warfare is the only thing that came even close to this: jump in, join a fleet and maybe go and blow stuff up. But it was flawed from the get-go, filled with tedious PvE and lack of long-term significance.

What i would love to see is a revisit of that mechanic, adding meaning and removing the PvE layers between the fun and the players. What i'd love to see is a working bounty hunting system, with bounty hunters forming temporary alliances to take down a particular target.

Just saying "This is an MMO, find some dudes" doesn't really cut it if you think about it a bit. Eve can be a blast, but lacks the tools for players who cannot associate themselves on a permanent basis for various reasons. It would do wonders for the long-term health of the game if we could find some ways to have a few types of "jump in and play" activities.

Posted - 2011.12.31 14:31:00 -
[43] - Quote
Honestly, the best feature CCP could make for the solo player of EVE Online would be a giant uninstall button.Lykouleon > CYNO ME CLOSER SO I CAN HIT THEM WITH MY SWORD

WIdot Director of Quality Control and Ironically Signing My Title to Posts To Make People ~mad~

MMOs allow you to play with real thinking players, not hard coded repetitive responses like single player games. MMO does not mean you have to play with others...it's not a requirment.

Not in MMOs in general, no. But in an integrated and interconnected game such as EVE, it pretty much is GGv without other players, none of the things you do serve any purpose.

Anyway, the real question here is: what is it solo players can't do now, and is there any reason they should be able to do those things on their own?GG#If you're not willing to fight for what you have in GkmvGkm you don't deserve it, and you will lose it.GG%

No, the real question is: when will solo players get stuff that allows them to play EVE?

GG*soGG* what is it solo players can't do now?

Quote:

It is not about changing gameplay, it is about adding gameplay.

GG*and that's nice and all, but doesn't really have anything to do with solo players. Adding gameplay is nice and all, but the question still comes back to the above: what is it they can't do? Adding more gameplay just increases the list of things that we have to pose that question to.

Adding more things to do doesn't solve anything if there's nothing to solve, and that's the question here: what is the problem? What is it solo players can't do?GG#If you're not willing to fight for what you have in GkmvGkm you don't deserve it, and you will lose it.GG%

Posted - 2011.12.31 15:13:00 -
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While I concede that I prefer playing in a corp , an alliance, or even just a bunch of new friends to achieve the optimal experience in EVE, sometimes circumstance, or even just my mood, leads me to roam EVE solo. I don't have a problem with the enhancement of the solo experience in general. What I would fear is that many people apparently feel that IMPROVING something means making it EASIER.

The very essence of the sandbox is taking the tools you have to work with and doing something in your own unique way. Fitting a ship for a job that it clearly wasn't intended for, finding "interesting" ways of doing things, and "getting away with" stuff under the noses of pirates and big corps can be immensely satisfying pursuits.

A big, new, shiny exploration ship would be cool, but would it really improve the solo experience, or just make it easier?

Who just had more fun? the guy in the T1 rifter that just killed a T2 interceptor, or the Dramiel pilot that just killed a badger?

all those that say eve is not meant to play solo ask yourself the question on how many times you ran a mission solo

you can play on your own but still interact with other players

if i fly in a SB in 0.0 looking for targets to blow up i play solo no backup if i **** up i get a one way ticket home

and don't tell me nobody else ever took a SB on a solo trip

there is a difrence between playing solo and playing offline

attacking an other player is a lot more challanging then blowing up dumb NPC's

i think some improvements have to be made for living in hostile 0.0/low space so that you can have extended stays there without having to go back 30+ jumps to resupply every time you run out of ammo

Just a suggestion. A little prep work with a blockade runner and a few secure containers of ammo and you can cut down the number reupply trips. Your little SB trips sound like fun. I've used Stealth Bombers for just about anything you can think of EXCEPT stealth bombing. No doubt there is something wrong with me.

... oh wait, no, Chribba is solo and was holding Sov for about a year in 9UY until TEST decided to take it away.

GG*and at that point, we have to start discussing what qualifies as GG#soloGG%, since, not only does he have an army of alts, but another army (or four) of friendly factions who come to help whenever things are looking bad.GG#If you're not willing to fight for what you have in GkmvGkm you don't deserve it, and you will lose it.GG%

Largely because of the question asked earlier: what is it solo players can't do now, and is there any reason they should be able to do those things on their own?

Quote:

Try and stick with the topic

The topic hinges entirely on the notion that there isn't anything (or very little) for solo players to do. Asking whether or not this is actually true is about as topical as you can getGG*GG#If you're not willing to fight for what you have in GkmvGkm you don't deserve it, and you will lose it.GG%

... oh wait, no, Chribba is solo and was holding Sov for about a year in 9UY until TEST decided to take it away.

GG*and at that point, we have to start discussing what qualifies as GG#soloGG%, since, not only does he have an army of alts, but another army (or four) of friendly factions who come to help whenever things are looking bad.

An army of alts would be no different than a large corp at your disposal. I think what defines a solo player is one that does not belong to a corp/alliance. Or a one-man corp with no more than 3 characters in it since you can only have 3 chars per account anyway.

In theory a person can have 10 accounts with 30 characters total. You could only play 10 at a time though. As each is defined as a solo character, they would each be able to call in NPC refenforcments but each would have to also pay for the service. That is the trade off. If you want to play alone, you need to pay for the help which I think balances things out.-

... oh wait, no, Chribba is solo and was holding Sov for about a year in 9UY until TEST decided to take it away.

GG*and at that point, we have to start discussing what qualifies as GG#soloGG%, since, not only does he have an army of alts, but another army (or four) of friendly factions who come to help whenever things are looking bad.

Only Four? I thought Otherworld Empire was blue to about half of New Eden?

Then lets do away with Concord. That is NPC reenforcments for hi-sec right?

Of course they are not. Sometimes I wonder where you draw these wacky conclusions.

Concord is not aligned to one side and does not re-enforce any player. They are NPC Guards that react when the law is violated within their designated Sector. They do not help you but if you are helped by coincidence from there actions against hostile targets then that is a win.

You want people to to help you and not enforce Sector Security, Hire Players.

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